A federal grand jury in Spokane has added a federal hate crime to the charges pending against Kevin William Harpham, a white supremacist suspected of planting a deadly backpack bomb along the city's Martin Luther King Jr. parade route.

April 21, 2011- A federal grand jury in Spokane has added a federal hate crime to the charges pending against Kevin William Harpham, an alleged white supremacist suspected of planting a backpack bomb along the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade route.

Harpham is named in a new four-count indictment issued late Thursday. It adds two counts, one relating to a violation of the federal Hate Crimes Act and the other accusing him of attempting to use an explosive device in connection with the hate crime. Harpham faces up to life in prison if convicted.

He had earlier pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and knowingly possessing an improvised explosive device.

Federal Public Defender Roger Peven said late Thursday he had not seen the indictment but was aware the grand jury was considering Harpham's case this week.

The new charges had to be approved by Deputy Attorney General Thomas Perez, who heads the Department of Justice's Civil Right's Division in Washington, D.C.

The indictment alleges Harpham planted an improvised explosive device in Spokane before the parade "because of the actual or perceived race, color or national origin of participants."

As with the previous indictment, the new grand-jury documents provide no details of the government's case. Several news outlets, including The Seattle Times, Spokane Spokesman-Review and The Associated Press, have asked a federal judge to unseal documents that would outline the case against Harpham.